


and at least in this lifetime, we're sticking togehter

by grasslandgirl



Series: D20 Alphabet 2021 [3]
Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, F/M, Found Family, Gen, Pregnancy, look pete and sofie best friendship means so much to me okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-19 08:21:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29747673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grasslandgirl/pseuds/grasslandgirl
Summary: Until she decided,fuck it, fuck all of them. Fuck anyone who didn’t think Dale was enough, fuck anyone who doesn’t think thatSofia Leeis enough.She’d carve out her own family, if she had to.In the end, she didn’t have to carve out a place in the world for herself, after all. The world- the real world, the magical New York that’d been waiting around every corner for her- opened its arms without hesitation.written for the Dimension 20 Alphabet Event, Day 6 (F, Family)
Relationships: Dale Lee/Sofia Lee, Sofia Lee & The Dream Team
Series: D20 Alphabet 2021 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2178603
Comments: 6
Kudos: 33





	and at least in this lifetime, we're sticking togehter

**Author's Note:**

> title comes from Me and My Husband by mitski bc..... ouch <3  
> go check out the other works made for this event at [@dimension20alphabet](https://dimension20alphabet.tumblr.com/) on tumblr and stay tuned the rest of this month and into march for the rest of the submissions!!

It’s been weird, in the years since Dale died and everything that came after. To go from a family that felt like it spanned the length of Staten Island, to being just Sofie and her mom in an apartment above Spaghetti’s. No more brothers arguing loudly in the kitchen, no more dad drinking beer alone in the living room, no more cousins popping into work uninvited. In the beginning, it made Sofie feel unsettled; who was she supposed to be, without the people she’d defined herself with? Her whole life, she’d been  _ Sofie Bikes, you know, Tony and Marie’s kid. _ She’d been one of the kids on the block, another in a long list of proud Bicicleta’s in Staten Island. Until Dale. 

Until the man she’d loved more than anything hadn’t been good enough for her family.

Until he left her out of nowhere and all her father had to say was  _ shoulda known better than to trust someone not from the neighborhood, Sof, _ with a shrug that left her foundations shaken without repair. Until she met Kug and discovered a whole new world and the horrifying, heartbreaking truth that waited inside of it. Until she found a secret part of her husband’s history, and the promise of a new life, a new family, inside of it.

Until she decided,  _ fuck it, fuck all of them. Fuck anyone who didn’t think Dale was enough, fuck anyone who doesn’t think that  _ Sofia Lee _ is enough. _

She’d carve out her own family, if she had to. 

In the end, she didn’t have to carve out a place in the world for herself, after all. The world- the real world, the magical New York that’d been waiting around every corner for her- opened its arms without hesitation. 

Now, she goes to Thanksgiving at Kingston’s and fights with Victoria about helping in the kitchen instead of being yelled at to bring her father another beer in the living room. Now, she gets coffee with Pete in the mornings before work, and he tells her about the kids that come into the store he’s been working at, eyes shining- literally- with the excitement of encouraging new dreams in the waking world. Now, she has dinner with Ricky and Esther on weekends and talk about the little ways they’re trying to uphold Kugrash’s legacy in the city. 

Now, she has a family that doesn’t expect anything of her that she doesn’t expect of herself. And even though her mom is exhausting sometimes, with her pointed comments about coming back to church and downloading one of those new dating apps onto her phone; it’s good.

Dale visits her, when he can get away, and though it hurts worse every time she sees him leave, it’s good. 

It’s good, she tells herself, trying to fight against the wave of terror and guilt and grief, when the little stick disguised as a box of Sour Patch Kids has two lines on it. It’s good, she tells herself when she gets life changing news in a bathroom in Nod, with Pete flushing coke in the other stall. It’s good, she tells herself, trying to imagine a life, a  _ child, _ without Dale by her side. 

When Sofie was little, she imagined being a mom. Mothered and smothered and dragged around her baby dolls, made them eat their greens and cut their hair and shoveled them off to school (a large toy car she’d stolen from Mario) and bed (one of Mom’s fancy pillows from the living room) on time. She imagined, when she was older, taking them to all the family gatherings, letting them be best friends with their cousins like she was with hers, teaching them the proud Bicicleta history. When she met Dale, the daydreams about family got firmer, more specific. A little boy with Dale’s hair and her chin. A little girl that wrinkled her nose like Dale did when he was frustrated. Watching them play in the yard, maybe with a dog, while she and Dale watched from the porch. 

This wasn’t what she had imagined, even in her most benign, most realistic daydreams. She hadn’t ever imagined doing it alone. Cut off from her dad and her brothers, no uncles and aunts and cousins at the holidays. No Dale at her side, teaching their kid-  _ their kid- _ his stupid jokes and helping them with their math homework. It was just her, and this kid, all alone.

But they weren’t, not really.

Mario was a dick, but she has Pete, who offered her his shoulder to cry on and his room to crash in any time she needs, no questions asked. Her father was a piece of shit, but Kingston promised to help and advise in any way he could, as Vox, as a nurse, as a voice of wisdom. Her aunts and uncles and cousins avoided her like the plague, but Iga’s hand is warm on her shoulder, and Sofie saw how she was with Jessica and Nick, knows that Iga can help her though all the pitfalls of young motherhood. She has Rowan, a real life fairy godmother, and future (former? both?) Broadway legend to boot. She has Ricky and Esther and even Cody (who she won’t ask to babysit until the kid is old enough to know better than to break into the mall). She has her mom, who will love this baby until the end of the world. She has  _ herself. _

_ Motherfucking  _ I’m  _ here, _ she hears, echoed on the wind. 

And she’ll get Dale back, she will get Dale to  _ meet his child, _ even if she has to break the laws of heaven or tear it all down brick by brick to do it. There’s magic in the world, goddamnit. She’s carrying an invulnerable angel baby; she can get her husband back. 

And she has her family- her new family, her  _ real  _ family, as broken and strong and good-hearted as the world comes- to back her up through all of it.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr also at [@grasslandgirl](https://grasslandgirl.tumblr.com/) if you have any comments/thoughts, and my inbox is always open for prompts, especially if there's a certain letter/word/pairing you want to see for this event upcoming!! again, please go check out [@dimension20alphabet](https://dimension20alphabet.tumblr.com/) on tumblr and stay tuned for what i'm sure is going to be a great event!!


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